Water Damage Is A Hassle

Problem Scenario

Somebody might want to know this information if they are making a new roof or project that involves using wood and will stay out in the open. If you were making a roof you won't want a weak wood, other wise it may cause leaks or worse, complete structure damage.

Broad Question

What kind of wood breaks easier under the stress of of water and weight?

Specific Question

Does the species of wood affect the resistance to water damage?

Hypothesis

I believe that oak wood would be more reliable than white pine.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: Time in water

Dependent Variable: species of wood

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

container, weight, wood

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

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General Plan

Get about a 1/4 inch by 12 inch board (three boards of each species . First start stacking the weights on the first board of each species, to see which board breaks at what amount of weight for a control next place each board in the container of water. After two weeks it's time to test the white pine and oak boards for the two week test, as before we start stacking the weights on the recently soaked wood. finally it's time for the final test, four weeks of being soaked it the water should have damaged the wood's durability. The last part of the test will be to average out the weight it took to break each board in half.

Potential Problems And Solutions

One very unfortunate problem would be if the wood doesn't break in the available weight. the solution to that would be to either purchase more weights or barrow weights from family or friends Another potential problem would be if the containers have holes in them that will leak, that solution would to test the containers before using them for them for experiment (test meaning, fill the containers with water and see if they leak.)

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

My safety could be if one of the weights falls and lands on my foot, or if when the wood breaks it could hurt me by having a splinter fly into me, but those are minor safety concerns that have a small chance of happening. I do not believe that there are any environmental concerns.

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
1/4" by 12" oak wood	3	home	free
1/4" by 12" white pine	3	home	free
clear identical buckets	4	home	free
water	9 cups	tap water from home	free
experiment board	1	staples	5-10$

Detailed Procedurec

step one- get the oak wood and white pine wood
step two- measure each piece of wood to 1/4 of an inch thick and 12 inches long (cut three of each species of wood)
step three- purchase or use weights from home that are accurate weight and can be placed on the board (they must be distributed weight and each weight must be no more then ten lbs.)
step four- use these weights to start stacking them on the wood, keep stacking til you break one of each board from both the maple and white pine for a control with no water (make sure to record your data)
step five- get four identical buckets (they have to be the same size)
step six- fill each bucket with tap water (measure the water you place in each buckets using clear liquid measuring cups)
step seven- place the remaining boards in a different bucket each.
step eight- after two weeks take one of each species out of the water and stack the weights on the wood (again, record your data)
step nine- now after four weeks take the final two boards out of the water test there strength the same way you did the other two
step ten- average out your data for each board and make a graph with the data.

Diagram

The black bits above the board are weights, with these weights you will stack them on the board until the board breaks.

Photo List

Time Line

Feb. 3rd start experiment Feb 17, test the boards March 4th test the boards march 7th, analysis done march 15th discussion done
that have been in the water that have been in the water march 22 poster done
for 2 weeks for 4 weeks march 29th science fair

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Data Table

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Data Analys

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

Results

Conclusion

Was oak more reliable than pine? Actually for the first part of the experiment it was, but when the wood started to expand and bend rather than breaking, the two boards were equally durable. Though I would still buy the oak rather then pine, the pine is still a very reliable wood.

Discussion

I have discovered many interesting things during this experiment.Have you ever placed a mini wheat in water? Well if you do, you will discover that rather then breaking,the elasticity of the mini wheat spreads and bends, the same thing happens to the wood. The reason that neither of the boards that had been in the water for four weeks broke is because of this. With the two week data I thought I would still be able to answer the question, but when I tested the four week data I not only discovered that they wouldn't break but why they wouldn't break. The dependent variable of the species of wood and independent variable did have an effect over the end results, the water made the board stronger but if the boards stay in the water too long, then they won't break or bend, they will just fall apart. To make this experiment more reliable, I would have needed years of time to put the boards through the real world conditions instead of just putting them in a box of water for two - four weeks.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

Background Research

Oak- Oak wood is a tree or shrub that grows up to 70 - 90 feet and can have a diameter of 2- 4 feet. It grows in the U.S. and the acorns provide a food source for numerous birds and animals such as the Ruffed grouse, nuthatch, blue jay, wild turkey, red, gray and fox squirrels, bears, deer and raccoons.

White Pine- The white pine is considered to be one of the most valuable evergreen trees in Eastern North America because its fast growth and uses for its lumber. This large tree is native to Eastern North America and can get as tall as fifty to eighty feet tall and have width of twenty to forty feet when full grown. This tree like most pines is in the shape of a pyramid like shape.
Its leaves are needle-like. These needles can be two to five inches long and are flexible, they are normally found to be a light green color.

References

Abstract

Why would this experiment be useful to you? Well, with the data from this experiment it will tell us which species, oak or white pine is the better one for projects such as flooring, exterior work on your home or many other projects similar to those. For this experiment I filled four identical clear buckets with the same amount of water. Two boards of each wood species were placed in a separated bucket. one of each species will stay in the buckets for two weeks, the other two boards will stay there for four weeks. At the beginning another board of each species is broken using the weights, this will happen to the two weeks boards and the four week boards as well.